On the 15th of May, I ran my 13th half marathon in the Nike+ Run Club Women's Half Marathon Manila which is the main event of the Nike Victory Tour. Over 4,000 women joined the race, which started at Blue Bay in Macapagal and had a finish line at Island Cove in Kawit, Cavite. Since I already posted about the race itself through the media release, let me just make this a quick recap from my own experience.

I got to the venue with my buddy, Solyle, about an hour before the race. We took that time to prepare our gear, deposit our bags, and do some warm-ups. While I am used to atergy gels during the race, I decided to try skipping it. I just took one about thirty minutes before the race, which is something that's already part of my pre-race ritual. Then we did some dynamic warm-up exercises and proceeded to the corral and waited for the gun start.
with my buddy, Solyle, before the race
The race started at 4:30am. I started out just fine in my usual race pace, stopping only for a sip at hydration stations. I started doing the run-walk when I reached the 8th kilometer. The more it got hotter, the more I slowed down. You'd think that after running a couple of ultras under the scorching sun would make me get used to it already but I wasn't. It was bearable but I got lazy. I started walking more when it was around 6:30am. By then, the sun had fully risen and the air felt humid. I got my momentum back during the last kilometer. And during the last 500 meters, that was when I went back on full speed again and sprinted all the way to the finish line. It was an awesome finish for me. Not my best time but with all the spectators, especially my friends in the running community, cheering us on, it felt great.
photo credits: Eyecatcher

While I wasn't able to break my personal best for a half-marathon, my time was still okay. I also managed to finish strong and injury-free. Most importantly, I had fun. Thank you so much to Eon for the complimentary race kits. Kudos to my buddy, Solyle, for finishing strong on her first half-marathon, and congratulations to all the finishers!
rank: 305th out of 4000-ish participants, official time: 2:35:56